Tim Kelly

Harris Sportmail are an OK company. They can take the VAT off because it's only applicable to EU residents, a bit like your state sales tax. I don't buy anything from them because they are owned by someone I'm not keen on, so don't want to line his pockets, but they're a perfectly reputable company.

I use the first mould, but can never get the keeper bit to come out consistently, I've found that the little wire keepers can be put in the moulds and make a good keeper for zman plastics witout needing glue.

Combs looks very uncomfortable with spinning gear and is constantly reeling with the drag spinning. I suppose they don't get much practise with sissy sticks in Texas?

Wow. That looks like Herman Munster's bass boat!

I also use the lil nasty hooks, after Blue's recommendation and agree, they are great and sometimes a bit of a bear to get out. As you're relatively new to fishing, it may be that you're not playing the fish hard enough. I see lots of people who are afraid to bend the rod when they've got a fish on, especially when they think they're using light line. I use 6lb CXX with a 7ft light power popping blank by MHX for my set up and rarely lose any fish. The 6lb CXX is mega strong and the only fish I've had break the line was a pike who bit through it. The rod gets very bent during the fight and the drag often rips. Try playing the fish much harder than you do at the moment and see if it makes a difference. People often let fish swim around a long time to tire themselves out, that is bad for the fish and gives them more chance of getting off, so get them in quickly and release them quickly. Best for you and the fish.

I don't know if you guys can get it over there, but Aspalls cider http://www.aspall.co.uk/ is really good. Woodpecker and Strongbow are very inferior, like Coors and Bud to micro brews. You can get some of your better hangovers with cider. It's just too perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon, but you'll hate yourself by the evening!

I've got a thing for drum. They're a bit slimy, but great fun to catch. Never disappointed when one comes calling.

That's horrible. A friend of mine has a house on SML and said that the jet ski traffic was abysmal over the holiday weekend. Not a boat on the lake on Tuesday. I guess you just have to pick your days and not go out when you know it's going to be a zoo. No idea why getting on a jet ski instantly lobotomises people, but it seems to be a universal truth.

Cut throat and laker/char?

When I used to do a lot of Pike and Musky fishing my standard outfits were ABU 7000 and 7'6" rods, casting up to about 8oz. I used to palm that outfit no problem and thought nothing of it. It's just a matter of what you get used to. I expect I'd find it uncomfortable at first if I went back to that gear, but would soon acclimatise again. A lot of musky guys used to hold the foregrip which I never liked as the rod would always feel like it was wanting to twist with the big reel on top. I hate spinning rods with foregrips and as I make my own rods I always use American Tackle Aero reel seats, with a modified fuji SK reel nut on it, cut down threads and no foregrip. I hold the rod with two fingers either side of the reel stem, and this works best for me. I really dislike the Japanese style spinning seats with a massive foregrip and an uplocking reel nut. Total fail for me, though could be OK if it was on the rod the other way round!

From the Icast pictures the handles look a little short to me for throwing bigger baits. An inch or two more would mean a much more user friendly rod I would think. Be interesting to see what the production rods look like.

They make lots of more family friendly boats, so I doubt it would be a priority.

Since Clayton's recommendation I've been using size 2 black Lil Nasty hooks for my ned rig heads. Got to say I'm very impressed. The hook point, being turned in slightly doesn't get damaged as easily as a normal aberdeen hook, the hooks are super strong too, but most importantly the way they bury themselves in the fish's mouths is ridiculous. They are actually sometimes a bit too difficult to get out. Almost impossible to lose a fish unless the line snaps.

That would be up to the buyer if they wanted to pay to have it shipped. Put your location in the ad and it's up to them if they want to pick it up. The *** is apparently a site that we shouldn't mention on here, so I won't. But it's another big bass fishing website.

Put an ad on here or ***.

Have you checked your rod yet? Sounds like the tip ring doesn't have an insert!

A bit of red paint and a different gear ratio. Maybe a slightly different spool. Unless you want the 8;1 ratio particularly it's probably not worth the extra.

Check the line guide on the reel too. If that's damages it might cause your problem.

I expect an out of balance prop could cause a bent prop shaft eventually. I expect it gets to a critical point, then just goes. If the prop wasn't in perfect condition that might cause it.

I prefer the ranger boats. They sit flat in the water and so get blown around a bit less than the tracker hulls, and I expect they are more stable at rest. Unless you really want the speed the 198 can offer with the pad hull and the 150, the RT188 is a tremendous fishing boat. It doesn't have the pad hull, so will float on a damp towel, which is probably more important to you if you have a lot of timber. The boat still does the best part of 50mph, so unless you've got long runs to do it would probably suit you better.

No point in taking a risk of damaging the guide. Put the hook through the guide's legs rather than the ring and the risk of damaging the guide is negligible.

How thick is the line? If you're using braid that's too thin in situations where you're putting a lot of strain on it, it will bed into the spool. Some braids are worse than others for this, but it's probably the main reason people recommend 65lb braid for flipping.

Ultrex.

I'm pretty certain I didn't sit on your balls John.

They offer much greater stability at rest than a pad or mod v hull of the same width though. I suppose boats are generally wider now, so that stability issue is less relevant?